Kanade Oe
Kanade Oe (大江奏 Ōe Kanade) is a female high school student who loves traditional Japanese culture. Kanade has shown a great love for Japanese poems and traditional clothing. She is the club treasurer of Chihaya and Taichi's karuta club and was the third member to join. Appearance Kanade often has her short brown hair in two neat and low pig tails. Her long bangs are separated in the middle, exposing her wide forehead. She has large brown eyes, and only three eyelashes on each eyelid, a fact that she acknowledges. She usually wears her school uniform, which consists of a tucked-in white shirt with a bow, a green and red plaid skirt, black knee socks and a pair of brown loafers. Sometimes she wears a t-shirt with the Oe Traditional Clothing Shop logo. Kanade gets her looks from her mother. Personality Kanade is an optimistic and determined person, but can lose her temper when others do not take Japanese poetry and traditional clothing seriously. She is also strict when it comes to conduct, scolding Chihaya when she acts like a tomboy and scolding Hanano when she talks while the "upperclassman is talking". She also makes proper etiquette her number one priority when they recruit new members for their karuta club. Because of her fondness for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poems, she knows about their interpretations and backgrounds. Sometimes she tends to quote the specific poems or refer to them when situations arrive that reminds her of them. She has good business sense as well, taking any opportunity to help her family business in traditional Japanese clothing. She is also very strategic, on par with Taichi's abilities, as she was in charge of promoting the karuta club during the General Assembly. Kanade has grown more assertive and firm recently, making decisions on behalf of the karuta club about matters that affect its members, as she feels that she must shoulder responsibility for the club. Relationships Friends Chihaya Ayase Kanade is one of Chihaya's dearest friends, having been the first to join the then newly formed Karuta Club, after Chihaya and Taichi. She is seen to educate Chihaya about the poems, mainly their meanings and how they were written. She also tells her what the difference is between "impassioned" and "frenzied". Mashima Taichi The president of the Misuzawa's Karuta Club which Kanade joined. At first, Taichi was the one who taught the basic of playing karuta to Kanade and Tsutomu and help them in every step. Kanade is one of the two people who knows that Taichi like Chihaya and Kanade support Taichi to be with Chihaya. She was seen throughout the series to make every chance possible so that Taichi can be alone with Chihaya. Sumire Hanano Although Sumire first thought of Kanade as an enemy, having assumed that she liked Taichi, whom Sumire had her eyes on, she ultimately became one of Kanade's friends. Tsutomu Komano In a D-Class tournament, Kanade and Tsutomu were against each other in the finals. In that game, Kanade said she was able to do her best because her opponent was Tsutomu. In the manga, it has been revealed that Tsutomu has feelings for her and that he will confess to her if he becomes the top student in their year. In Chapter 142, Tsutomu made an oblique confession to Kanade and they seemed to have a relationship but nothing has been confirmed yet. Yusei Nishida He coached her in karuta when she first started out; he once commented on her unusual card arrangement. History Kanade was teased by other girls at her school for reading classics, who said she was born in the wrong era. She joined the archery club simply because she wanted to wear traditional clothing, as the members of that club were required to wear hakama, even though she had no talent at using the bow and arrow. She wanted to join the karuta club because she loved the poems' meanings, but wouldn't join unless Chihaya and Taichi agreed to wear traditional clothes, which they did. Official Matches Record Karuta Style Unlike most karuta players, Kanade's style focuses on the background information of each poem. While other players are satisfied with matching the syllables of poems without knowing them or understanding their meanings, she understands the meaning of each poem, the story behind them, as well as the history of their poets. This gives her a unique way of thinking of the cards. She arranges the cards according to their corresponding seasons and authors instead of their syllables. This is also her weakness: she is so focused on the meanings and histories behind the poems that when one card is read, her attention is drawn not only to that poem but also to poems written by other authors who were relatives or friends of the author of the card being read. This causes her to slow down. Tsutomu was able to exploit this weakness against her in her D-Class final match against him. By her third year, however, and much to her embarrassment, she is visualizing the cards according to their syllablesChapter 162, page 16. Techniques and Talents Historical Card Link Unlike other karuta players which identify the cards using sounds, Kanade identify the cards based on their history and meaning of each poems. Given by her love towards classical literature, she can link the cards based on the colour of the scenery , the relationship they shared between each other and who wrote it. It is proven that people who have unique link with the cards will commit less faults or no faults at all. Relaxed Traditional Posture This is not really a talent, but many players can't find a relaxed posture when playing karuta, therefore, wasting lots of their stamina. Kanade finds that wearing traditional clothes gives support to her posture, which makes her more relaxed and so she uses less stamina. Rhythmic Control Kanade has always loved the readings of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poems. She is also interested in becoming a reader for karuta matches. Therefore, she understands the rhythm of the readings, making her react faster as she know when will the sound form. This has also irriated Kanade quite a few times because the readers didn't follow the rhythm correctly. Quotes *(To herself'') "''Nobody wants to give up their dream." *(To Chihaya and Taichi) "My family has owned a traditional clothing shop for many generations. I love kimono. I want everyone to understand how wonderful they are, but we can only sell cheap yukatas... Our business is so bad that we can't even afford a model for next year's catalog!" *(To Chihaya) "My love for karuta is fundamentally different from yours." *(To Chihaya) "That won't do, Chihaya-chan. A woman must always move with grace, whether you're wiping a table or drying sheets. Or in the fight of your life." * (To Chihaya) "In my mind, karuta is about the meanings of the poems." Trivia * She was called "Forehead" by Harada Sensei. *She only had three eyelashes on each eye. By Chapter 144 , they grew to four. *She accidentally said "pisusawa" instead of MIZUSAWA in their match against the Akashi Girls. * She admires Lady Koshikibu no Naishi.Chapter 142, page 22 *Unlike the AnimeEpisode 6, Kanade Oe explains Chihaya Ayase the deeper meaning of the karuta cards, in the MangaChapter 11, in the classroom rather than in the kimono shop. *She is interested in becoming a certified reader.Chapter 49, page 12Episode 25 References Category:Characters Category:Female Category:Karuta Player Category:Main Character Category:Featured Articles Category:Student Category:Suihoku Karuta Society Category:Mizusawa High School Category:Mizusawa Karuta Club Category:Protagonists Category:Allies